Pixies cancel Israel concert; CD sales plummet to historic low

The Pixies have dropped Israel from their 2010 tour. (Photo from Myspace)

By Ally Schweitzer

- The Pixies are the latest band to cancel a concert in Israel in protest of the Israel/Gaza conflict. The band didn't specify why they pulled out of the Tel Aviv show scheduled for this week, but concert organizers say the cancellation stems from Israel's deadly raid on a Gaza-bound flotilla last week. Elvis Costello, Gil Scott-Heron and Santana are among the high-profile acts who canceled gigs in Israel this summer, citing disagreements with Israel's treatment of Palestinians.

- Last week CD sales plummeted to an all-time low, marking a historic worst for the music industry. Bean-counters are saying it is the lousiest sales week since 1994 and possibly since 1973. Meanwhile, digital track sales exceeded 20 million, and ironically, a little sliver of those digital sales came from me buying tracks from the best-selling album of 1973, War's "The World is a Ghetto." (I had a hankering for "Cisco Kid.")